A Heated Debate Between Two Charismatic Geniuses: A Cardinal Fan (Jeff Lung) and a Tiger Fan (Allen Krause)

Don’t Blame Braun

I feel a little sick to my stomach when I hear about someone getting off on a technicality. Illegal search, improper handling, failure of the arresting officer to read the suspect their rights. The list of possible screw-ups is endless.

But you know what’s even worse than seeing someone get off on a technicality? Watching someone get convicted for a crime they truly didn’t commit.

I’ll be honest, just like all of you, I have no idea whether or not Ryan Braun is guilty. He claims he’s innocent, MLB implies he’s guilty and the fan is left to wonder what the real story is. But whether he’s an innocent charged with a crime he didn’t commit or a ne’er-do-well who got off on a technicality, the fact of the matter is that Braun has been cleared and this story never should have been in the press in the first place. More than that, if Braun was guilty of using PEDs, MLB has no one to blame but itself for his exoneration.

The reason courts and commissions have procedures is so that at the end of the process, you can be absolutely sure that the person was dealt with fairly and deserved the consequences of their actions. Even though it makes me sick when a criminal goes free because a DNA sample was mishandled, you can’t put that on the criminal. It’s the fault of the lab or the officers who did the mishandling.

Same goes for Braun. This isn’t a story about him using PEDs. No, this is a story about MLB screwing up a procedure that was set in place to assure fairness and impartiality inthe judgement. MLB has no right to disagree with the arbitration panel’s findings. If the organization had done their job correctly we’d either just now be finding out that Braun was a cheater or we’d have never heard anything at all.

I don’t like the Braun case. Whether he juiced or not, this story taints him, taints MLB and taints the game. However, instead of attacking Braun, the mob should be pointing their fingers at the only known guilty party, an organization that again and again fails to deal appropriately with the issues it faces. Don’t blame Braun. Blame Bud.

-A

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After a grueling off-season training regimen, the Filibuster comes back even bigger and badder then ever next Sunday. Maybe you want to know what the RSBS crew thinks about divisional realignment. Perhaps you’d like to make Allen see red by asking his feelings on pink team caps. Or maybe you’re just wondering why asking Jeff the question “Boxers or briefs” leads him to respond “Depends.” No matter what the query, send it to RSBSBlog@gmail.com and we’ll let you know what we think.

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2 Comments

I couldn’t agree more with you. The MLB, after they were the ones who botched the way the sample was handled, have no right to jump on Ryan Braun.
I’m also really upset with how Outside the Lines of ESPN is reporting on this whole thing. After completely dragging Ryan’s name through the mud, they feel like they have to say that they disagree with the way the panel voted. They just don’t understand that they’ve done enough messing with Braun.

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